Los Samaritanos

Yesterday I went on my first Samaritan Patrol. My housemates and I did the training back in the fall, but never signed up for the actual patrols because we've been busy. Now that I've got more time, I decided to sign up! So, at 6am I met up with a woman in her early 60s named Kathryn who has been doing these patrols for 9 years and a man named Steve in his late 50s who had only been on one other patrol. We wore long sleeves and hiking shoes, brought lots of water bottles, gatorade, a medical kit and food packs.
Basically, we went to the migrant trails to look for people who were crossing the desert from Mexico and try to help them without breaking the law. If we let them use our phone or drive them anywhere, that counts as aiding and abetting. But we can give them help by providing food, water and medical supplies. We started out by driving down to an area near Arivaca that has known migrant trails. I looked out the right side window and Steve looked out the left side while Kathryn drove. We were looking for any signs of migrants. Kathryn told us that once they saw just a flash of red and it turned out to be a severely injured man waving his red hat to get their attention.

I didn't see anyone as we were driving along, but then Kathryn said she heard a whistle. I thought it was just the birds, but we looked in the rear view mirror and there was a man in a big black jacket coming towards us. We drove back and met up with him, took him off the road where Border Patrol couldn't see and he kept saying "water...water..." We gave him water, gatorade and a food pack. Kathryn drove the car to park not near where we were hiding so Border Patrol wouldn't see where we were.

The man's name was Jose and he is from Jalisco, Mexico. He was really nice and had lived in Boston for 8 years, so he was fluent in English. Kathryn kept trying to speak Spanish to him, but he replied to us in English. Turns out he had been traveling with a group of 8 other people but at about 5am, a Border Patrol helicopter found them and he heard "RUN!" so he ran. He lost his backpack with all his stuff and everyone in his group. He also hadn't had anything to eat or drink since the day before in the morning. His feet were swollen badly with lots of blisters. His eyes were tearful, saying that we saved him and I could tell he was tired of being hunted like an animal. It was nice to sit and have a conversation with him, and I'm sure he was glad to be treated like a human being. He apparently has a friend in California and was bummed to find out that is really far away. We also told him we were 50 miles from Tucson and he probably wouldn't make it there. But we cleaned his face up, gave him new socks and said to walk to Arivaca and meet a woman there that maybe would be able to help him.

We left Jose there with lots of water and food packs, told him to take a break before heading out and to not walk on the road because there was LOTS of Border Patrol out. I also learned a lot about Border Patrol on the trip. Such a waste of money. The starting pay for a Border Patrol agent is from 70,000-100,000 a year. Yes, that's their STARTING pay. They drive around in their vehicles and when they find migrants, they treat them so poorly. They separate families on purpose, refuse medical treatment to many of them, abuse them, randomly select people to spend up to 2 years in detention centers (although you are much more likely with a "prior"). And don't get me started on how much a waste of money the detention centers are! Here is a report from No More Deaths about abuse from Border Patrol if you're interested: CLICK HERE (called Crossing the Line)

I also found out Border Patrol agents shot two kids in the back! whhaaa (they claimed the kids were "throwing rocks" but that's a lie according to witnesses!) This picture above is from when a Border Patrol agent drove up and asked us what we were doing. We said we were hiking around. He made some joke about the heat. *rolls eyes*

So, anyway after that encounter we drove a little further and stopped to hike the migrant trails. It was sooo hot but there was a breeze so it didn't feel like 100 degrees. We walked the same trails that are walked every day by the migrants from Mexico. We found footprints and Kathryn would tell us how recent they were (some were from that morning). We called out in Spanish that we had food, water and medical supplies, but didn't find anyone else. There were many discarded water bottles, shoes, and clothes along the way. We hiked for a few hours in the hot sun before going back to the car.

Before we left, Kathryn took us to the wall along the border. The wall is another complete waste of money. It cost 1 million dollars per mile and if you look in this picture you can see it just ends in places. So, people walk around it. Kathryn said she has also seen men just climb over it. And, there are these 9 big towers with sensors that were supposed to be able to find people with infrared technology. They cost 1 billion dollars to set up, and don't work AT ALL! Border Patrol doesn't even use them...epic fail.

So, this trip was very informational for me and also eye-opening as to what migrants have to go through. I've learned a lot this year about the border that I will never forget.

If you would like to help save lives of migrants there is immediate action that needs to be taken. Click this LINK to learn more.